Live Review: The Kooks, The Griswolds, Catfish & The Bottlemen

Welsh indie quartet Catfish & The Bottlemen opened with some solid tracks from their full-length record The Balcony, last night at the Hordern Pavilion.

Sydney band The Griswolds were up second, and though they played a couple of their catchier tunes (Beware The Dog, Heart Of A Lion and Mississippi), their stage banter and general performance were a bit lacking. While their typical indie-rock hooks are enjoyable in their simplicity, The Griswolds don’t really bring anything new to the stage. Their performance was less than ground-breaking, especially when they covered Vance Joy’s Riptide, which is a great song (and one that they performed well for triple j’s Like A Version) – but this time round it seemed more like a missed opportunity to really capitalise on what could have been a big crowd-pleaser.

When The Kooks took the stage it was a welcome breath of fresh (but familiar) air. Opening with Around Town from their latest album (Listen), they brought their new material to life, winning old fans over again in the process. Though some might say The Kooks’ best years are behind them, the band seem to have struck a great balance in their live show between new material and old classics. Junk Of The Heart (Happy) (which they played during encore) pretty much sums up this happy middle ground. 

Bad Habit had the whole crowd singing along, as did Forgive & Forget, among a couple of the other tracks off the new album. Don’t believe anyone who tells you that The Kooks have had it – their live performance is as strong as ever, and filled with energy and indie-rock goodness. Lead singer Luke Pritchard strutted the stage and absolutely ripped it to pieces, showing off his vocal range, and proving that there’s a reason why people are still lining up to see their shows as they rounded out the night with a killer rendition of Naïve.